When Lauren Puryear learned about how much couponing could really save, the excitement she had was not for her own gain.
With the goal to use extreme couponing in her hometown to provide meals to people who need it, Lauren is trying to meet her first goal of delivering 30,000 meals.
Lauren, a 29 year-old Woodbridge, Virginia resident, works during the day as a mental health clinician. During her free time, Lauren uses extreme couponing to help provide meals for individuals in need of it.
Lauren was always inspired to help others from the lessons passed down from her late grandmother. After her grandmother’s death, Lauren made it her goal to help in whatever way she could.
Starting the organization, For The Love of Others and ByPercent.com, Lauren began buying food in bulk from places like Amazon.com and Cosco, but could not meet her demand as easily as she hoped.
After hearing about couponing from a friend, Lauren decided to use this technique for good and provide as many meals as she could with the discounted prices.
“I started couponing for food items like spaghetti, meatballs, and I was (often) able to get the items for free or for little to no money,” Lauren said.
If the coupons are used effectively, Lauren can sometimes feed over 150 people for just 20 dollars.
Although the couponing process can be tedious and challenging, after passing the learning curve, it can be used to get amazing deals. In this case, Lauren is using these discounts to help those who have little to nothing.
“There are coupons in the Sunday paper, or online that you can print … so I collect as many as I can, match them to the store and that is how I am able to get the items for free,” Lauren added in.
Having already delivered a whopping 5,000 meals, Lauren has no plans of stopping soon.
As she becomes better and better with the couponing and gets more and more volunteers to help out, Lauren is getting closer to that 30,000 meals she aspires to deliver.
“It is very important to teach him to help other people. The little things we take for granted, the food we throw away every day … and if we just spread a little more love around, the world would be such a better place,” Lauren told reporters.
Lauren is sure to pass down this message of love and compassion to her son as well, and we can only imagine what the influence of his amazing mother will lead him to do in the future.
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